ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that introduction of computerised balloting in future elections would not be possible until parliament carried out an appropriate legislation.

A report submitted by the ECP before the court said parliament had the ultimate authority to decide about the computerised balloting system since several steps needed to be taken before the commission could introduce electronic voting machines (EVMs) in place of ballot boxes and papers.

The report was presented before a three-judge bench headed by Justice Saqib Nisar that had taken up a complaint about lack of implementation of its June 8, 2012 judgment on electoral reforms and concerns raised by PTI chief Imran Khan about last year’s poll results in at least four constituencies of Punjab.

The judgment in the Workers Party case had worked out comprehensive criteria aimed at discouraging show of wealth, power and pageantry in elections.

Mr Khan, through PTI additional secretary Saifullah Niazi, had sought thumb verification and recount of votes in four National Assembly constituencies bagged by PML-N stalwarts. The constituencies are NA-125, Lahore, won by Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq; NA-154, Lodhran, of Siddiq Khan Baloch; NA-110, Sialkot, of Minister for Defence and Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif; and NA-122, Lahore, from where Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was elected.

A report submitted by ECP in the court said parliament had the ultimate authority to decide about the computerised balloting system

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief has alleged several times that the government had managed to get additional ballot papers printed from private printers instead of the government’s security presses two days before the elections.

At the last hearing on May 8, the court had ordered the ECP to submit comprehensive replies on the issues.

ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan appeared before the court and explained that the report that had been submitted highlighted the need for legislation by parliament after discussion on merits and demerits of the changes required in the electoral system with regard to compulsory voting and computerised balloting.

One of the directives in the judgment was to take effective steps for a computerised balloting system and frame rules to ensure that elections were conducted justly, fairly and honestly while guarding against corrupt practices.

The commission, the report said, had complete realisation of its power to ensure that the elections were held freely, fairly, justly, honestly and on a level playing field in accordance with the law and rules.

It said the ECP had recently launched its second five-year (2014-18) strategic reform agenda comprising 160 objectives under 13 broader goals and pledged to strive to improve the electoral process before the next general elections, due in 2018.

Referring to the concerns expressed by the PTI leader, the ECP said it had obtained a report from its field officers, particularly with reference to NA-125, to ascertain efforts made by the returning officers and the district election commissioner to ensure compliance with the Representation of the People Act of 1976 as well as the apex court’s judgment.

The report conceded that efforts made by the ECP to depute an equal number of officials from the federal and provincial governments in all the constituencies had failed in most areas because of an acute shortage of employees from the centre.

In NA-125, of the 265 presiding officers in polling stations, 91 were from the federal government and 174 from the Punjab government, it conceded. Of the 1,730 assistant presiding officers, 284 were from the federal and 1,446 from the provincial governments. Among the polling officers, 127 were from federal and 738 from the provincial governments.

The court ordered Advocate Bilal Hasan Minto, representing the Workers Party, and Hamid Khan of the PTI to submit a rejoinder to the reports. The case will now be taken up on Oct 13.

Published in Dawn, September 18th , 2014